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Europe
The Europe map covers the Old World, continental Europe from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Ural mountain range in the east. The map includes non-European areas south of the Mediterranean Sea, Turkey and parts of the Middle East. The map has 48 regions with 7 bonus zones. This provides a good sized map for 2-6 player games. Although the Europe map appears rather square, the Alps and Caucasus mountain ranges (impassable) and two bottleneck regions in practice splits the map into a northern and southern part. The Europe map is a simple, conservative and classic-style Conquer Club map (released in April 2006) relying primarily on region count advantage and zone bonuses to provide an edge in each game. Consequently, being a simple, old school map – what works on Classic generally works on the Europe map. Features *One Way Borders - Moldova assaults and reinforces into Romania (but troops on Romania cannot assault or reinforce into Moldova). Bonus zones Especially in no spoils games, the ratio between bonus troops and the number of defense points one has to keep in order to hold a bonus zone is a factor to be taken into account when planning one’s strategy. However, and especially with respect to bonus zones consisting of a large number of regions, other factors - such as the negative impact of conquering neutral regions (or regions held by a team mate) as well as the risk that an opponent is able to secure a region count advantage - must be taken into account. Looking at the ratio between bonus troops and the number of defense points, one can conclude that the Europe map is reasonably balanced bonus wise. Further, looking at the four more easily conquered and held bonus zones, i.e. Western Russia / Scandinavia (with a total +6 troop bonus) and Africa / The Near East (also with a total +6 troop bonus), these are located next to each other. If having conquered and held one of these bonus zones, it is often possible to conquer the adjacent bonus zone. It is rarely, at least initially, feasible to successfully go for the Germany, Mediterranea and The West bonus zones due to their size. With respect to bordering regions, the following can be noted: *Moldova assaults and reinforces into Romania, but troops on Romania cannot assault or reinforce into Moldova (a one-way border). *Italy and Albania border each other (which is not entirely clear when just viewing the map). *The impassable mountain ranges prevent movements between Western Russia and Eastern Turkey as well as movements between Italy and France / Switzerland / Austria. Settings There is nothing particularly special to this map concerning assassin, terminator and fog of war games, the general strategy guides on these topics may be helpful. Spoils With the Europe map being a rather simple, straight forward old school map - what works on Classic generally works on this map. There is nothing particularly special to this map concerning no spoils, flat rate and nuclear games. Here, the map-specific points under the “Two Player” and “Team Games” sub-sections may be helpful in addition to the general strategy guides on these topics. With respect to escalating games, the only bonus zones one should attempt to hold (if any) in these games are Western Russia, Africa, The Near East and/or Scandinavia. As usual, it may be sensible to spread out across the map in order to increase one’s reach (i.e. to have a launching pad for assaults in different areas of the map) once the spoils sets increase in value. Croatia and France / Spain are the two bottleneck regions dividing the northern and the southern part of the map. By putting up a troop block on these regions, one may at least be able to make it more difficult for the opponents to reach and eliminate any other player. Also, using those regions as a starting-point, one has the opportunity to strike into either the northern or the southern part of the map. A number of other bottleneck regions exist such as Iceland, Finland / Saint Petersburg and Italy. In addition, the map's southernmost regions are a linear stretch causing the regions there to be bottlenecks for any east-west movement. A number of dead end regions exist, namely Western Russia (blocked by Moscow), Estonia (blocked by Saint Petersburg), Moldova (blocked by Ukraine) and Portugal (blocked by Spain). Trapping an opponent by blocking a region may allow a player to control the destiny of that opponent once the spoils sets increase in value (or, for that matter, protect a team mate as the case may be). 1v1 In a 2 player game, each player starts with 16 regions (i.e. leaving 16 neutral regions). With this initial set-up, an early region count advantage (one player holding 18 or more regions with the other player holding 14 or less regions) may, irrespective of the spoils type, be decisive for the outcome of the game. Preventing the opponent from getting a region count advantage and/or holding any of the more easily defended bonus zones should be an overarching priority. The most easily defended bonus zones are Western Russia (with a +2 troop bonus), Africa, The Near East (with a +3 troop bonus respectively) and/or Scandinavia (with a +4 troop bonus). These three bonus zones are preferably held by setting up defense points outside the bonus zones (Saint Petersburg in addition to Moscow for Western Russia, Egypt / Italy / Spain for Africa, Libya / Turkey for The Near East and Denmark / Iceland in addition to Saint Petersburg for Scandinavia). Doing that allows a player to put up a second defense line (by placing 2 troops on the region behind a troop block) as well as blocking adjacent bonus zones. The choice of which bonus zone to go for initially (if any) depends on a number of factors, such as the potential loss of troops when assaulting neutral regions, the opportunities for reinforcing the bonus zone once conquered and the risk that the opponent may be able to conquer a different bonus zone or secure a region count advantage. As the Europe map contains four relatively easily conquered bonus zones (i.e. Western Russia, Africa, The Near East and Scandinavia) it is usually prudent to pay attention to the opponent in this respect, if unchecked the opponent may very well be able to counter your own zone bonus with a zone bonus of his own. The remaining bonus zones (Germany, Mediterranea and The West) are rarely, due to their size and likely number of neutral regions, worth an effort in a 2 player game. Naturally, in a flat rate or escalating spoils game the importance of the possession of Western Russia, Africa, The Near East, Scandinavia and/or a region count advantage wears off after a few rounds. However, in a no spoils game, any one of these advantages tends to be the decisive factor in the vast majority of 2 player games. Team games With respect to the basic set-up: In 4 player doubles games, each player starts with 12 regions, in triples games, each player starts with 8 regions and in quadruples games, each player starts with 6 regions. Considering the map size (48 regions), the best strategy in quadruples games is usually to target and attempt to eliminate one of the players in the opposing team (once done, one simply continues targeting the remaining opponents one by one). In doubles or triples games, one should keep in mind that the Europe map is split between a northern and southern part. The two bottleneck regions (Croatia and France / Spain) are important as holding these regions not only allows you to assault into either part of the map but also allows you to block the opposing team’s ability to reinforce troops between the two parts of the map. Irrespective of the spoils type, an early possession of the Western Russia and/or Scandinavia bonus zones or the Africa and/or The Near East bonus zones may be an important edge. Each of these bonus zones should preferably be blocked by troops placed on regions outside the bonus zone in question (e.g. Saint Petersburg provides a block outside Western Russia and Turkey provides a block outside The Near East) as this allows a team to put up a second defense line (by placing 2 troops on the region behind a troop block) as well as blocking adjacent bonus zones. A team that has secured a bonus zone is usually, as a consequence of the additional zone bonus, in a good position to prevent the opposing team from conquering and holding any bonus zone of their own. One can then secure the two bottleneck regions (Croatia and France / Spain) and begin to target one of the players in the opposing team (and once eliminated, continue targeting the remaining opponents one by one). However, due to the north-south split, team games may end up in stalemate where two teams are concentrated in different parts of the map. In these situations, the game is usually decided by the ability to assault into the opposing team’s bonus zones (and again, the importance of the two bottle neck regions can not be overstated).